


Chilli-red Charm

by SEpupppupp (ForNought)



Series: Rose-tinted [4]
Category: Gugudan (Band), IZONE (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Produce 48 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fae & Fairies, Gen, Minor Injuries, Supernatural Elements, Undead, Witches, i tagged for character death but the person who dies is already dead, mortal threat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 21:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17231384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForNought/pseuds/SEpupppupp
Summary: Mina is on a mission to rescue Ggyu from that awful kid who causes too much chaos whenever he's around the rest of the magical community. It proves to be a lot more difficult than Mina thought and she can't say that she manages without any casualties.





	Chilli-red Charm

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is far longer than i wanted it to be but it's main character mina and i love her and i am going to pretend this is exactly how i wanted it to be seeing as i wrote half of it in one day somehow OTL

Mimi works quickly as she selects bottles from the shelf above her desk. The clinking is melodical as her movements are methodical and Hyeyeon gasps just as she does every time she watches Mimi mixes a potion. Mina smiles. She’s just as impressed but she sees enough of Mimi mixing things at the bar she works at. 

The concoction whistles over a low heat and lilac steam billows from the worn crucible that Mimi has used for years. Mimi takes careful ladles of the mixture and pushes a stopper into the mouth of the bottle that she presents to Mina. 

“You know you're my favourite, right?” Mina sings as she pushes into Mimi’s arms. 

“You have said that to everyone we know. Forgive me for not believing you.”

“How can you say that?” Mina pouts. She makes sure Mimi can see the hurt writ across her face and it is that easy to make her melt. No need for spells or charms or even talismans carved by elderly mages. Mina can get almost everything she wants just by reminding people that she loves them. 

Of course Mimi would have helped anyway, even if only confronted with Hyeyeon's nervous smiles, because Ggyu was Hana’s familiar for a long while. Ggyu has been missing for far too long for any member of the coven to be happy about hearing someone else has been keeping the reanimated fox. 

Mina saw what this Jinyoung person did to Chungha (how Sejeong was fraught with worry and an offhand suggestion from Donghyun as he hoped to disperse the mood in his cake shop gave her a real idea. Sejeong had to ask around but she settled on seeking help from Minjoo to weave vines through her arm and her torso to fix her with something more alive than her body), and she had seen how idle contact with the aim of reaching out for Ggyu was enough for Nako’s hand to disintegrate. He wasn't someone that Mina would take lightly. 

Even the grotesques had heard of him, serene beauty that belied their name only wavering when concern rippled through their immovable marble masonry, and they had even deigned to ask for wards and protections against such destructive power. Soyee and Nayoung had been hard at work adapting Haebin’s curated spells to reverse them enough to protect the grotesques from a human. Mina would like to think the grotesques could defend themselves well enough but with Jinyoung on the loose Mina isn’t so surprised.

“You’re definitely my favourite for real,” Mina says as sincerely as she can. She wouldn’t have been able to get away with having to answer a hundred and one questions about what she would need a potion like this for had she asked anyone else. Besides that she doesn’t think she could get a potion that good even from any other the other witches of the coven. 

“Of course I am,” Mimi says with a roll of her eyes. “What are you going to use the potion for?”

Mina isn’t as lucky as she had hoped. “It’s just to recover Ggyu.”

“You’ve already said that,” Mimi says as she pats Mina’s back. “But I don’t think you’ll need to subdue Ggyu. You’re someone familiar to… to Hana’s familiar.”

“I need the potion just in case,” Mina says quickly. She’s glad Hyeyeon keeps her mouth shut because Mina has told her everything she knows about Jinyoung and passing on information like that is bound to put a stop to Mina’s plan to rescue the vulpine familiar. 

“As long as you stay safe,” Mimi says reluctantly. She hugs Hyeyeon goodbye and lets Mina and Hyeyeon leave without any further questions. When they get outside Hyeyeon collapses into Mina’s side very dramatically. 

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I was so scared that you were going to get found out,” Hyeyeon says, fizzing as she frets. She shakes her head and grabs at Mina’s hands to keep up with her pace. “You’re not going to be safe at all! What if that scary person kills you?”

“He won’t kill me,” Mina sighs. She needs to change the subject so Hyeyeon calms down. “Let’s go and eat some ice cream. My treat.”

It is enough to appease Hyeyeon for a while as she approaches each spoonful with sciuridaen nibbles. She’s cute and marginally happier as she melts the sweetness in her mouth.

“You’re going to be careful on your way home, aren’t you?” Mina asks as she scoops some of the sundae onto her spoon. She twirls it through the frozen mounds and is doing well at excavating her favourite flavours. She looks up at Hyeyeon over the ice cream and Hyeyeon wriggles her nose nervously. 

“I will be careful.”

“You can’t talk to strangers,” Mina says. Then she remembers there are lots of witches in the world so she says, “Or friends that you aren’t expecting. All sorts of hexes can get to you and I don’t want you to take any risks.”

“I go home the same way every day,” Hyeyeon says. “You’re the one doing dangerous things. You might die if you fight him. You said he cut people up without trying!”

Mina shushes her. This isn’t the safest of places. Anyone could hear what they’re talking about and find them strange. They only came here because they like the ice cream and there are nice places to sit, though they should go to places like the cake shop if they want to be around magic.

“Don’t you trust me? Don’t you think that I could win against anyone? I thought I was the coolest and most amazing witch in the whole world.”

“You are!” Hyeyeon whines. “You’re amazing! But I don’t want you to die! Or get hurt then.”

“I have Mimi’s potion and I could probably think up a spell for any situation. Just let me take care of it and you make sure you get home safely.”

When they leave the ice cream shop Mina pulls Hyeyeon close and kisses both of her cheeks. Hyeyeon’s eyes flutter a few times and even though she is smiling she looks like she doesn’t want to be. 

“Why did you do that?”

Mina doesn’t say anything aloud. She presses a last kiss between Hyeyeon’s eyebrows and smooths her hair out of the way to rest their foreheads together for several long seconds. Hyeyeon looks dazed for a few moments after they part but she knows better. As soon as Mina releases her hand Hyeyeon’s expression cools. 

“You put a spell on me.”

“People do often call me charming,” Mina asserts.

“No. What was that? A protection?”

“Maybe.”

“You can’t just act cute and expect everything to be fine.”

“It usually works.”

“Not on me,” Hyeyeon says even more solemnly than deeper promises she’s made. Mina doesn’t want her to be sounding so serious like this when they’re as close as can be. 

“Well the spell will work so make sure you pay attention to the warnings it gives you.”

Mina makes Hyeyeon text her after every bus stop while she is on the way to meet Daehwi. He was very reluctant to meet her but changed his mind a few days ago. Hardly long enough to give Mina the chance to get a potion from Mimi but she isn’t going to take for granted the fact that Daehwi says he can escape home for a while and he has convinced Jinyoung to meet him. She is only hoping that Daehwi hasn’t told Jinyoung that she is turning up seeing as she looks up from sending Hyeyeon lots of heart emojis to keep her safe and notices Wonyoung with her hands on her hips telling Daehwi about something that he doesn’t care about. 

Daehwi looks very bored as he types away on his phone but Wonyoung maintains her monologue cheerily. He senses Mina before he sees her and he smiles blandly and waves her over to sit beside him on the bench. Mina decides not to sit down on the bench and looks about the busy street though Jinyoung isn’t in sight. 

“What are you doing here?” Mina asks. 

“That's a nice way to greet your friends,” Wonyoung pouts 

“Friends?” Mina asks. 

“That's so rude. Daehwi, tell Mina that she can do one.”

“Mina, I don't think there's anything wrong with your ears,” Daehwi says dutifully. It's his way of keeping the peace though Mina feels more like she is going to ruin the peace. But Daehwi has other duties that he is keeping on top of today. He perks up and casts his gaze about. “He's here.”

“Where?” There isn't time for a scrying spell and all she can do is look around wildly but that works well enough at locating Jinyoung. 

Wonyoung takes after Jinyoung at a sprint, yelling and waving her arms, and maybe that's the warning Jinyoung needs to run in the other direction. Daehwi runs much slower than Wonyoung so he falls behind and Mina doesn't have it in her to wait for him when Jinyoung is so close. 

There are too many people on the street walking in the way and Mina is surprised that Wonyoung hasn't pitched right over. It is lucky though seeing as Mina is following Wonyoung closely enough that she can rely on Jinyoung being just a shade ahead. But Mina has had enough of running and she only has one last spurt of energy that gets her as far as Wonyoung’s stride. 

Jinyoung is still too many paces ahead and he doesn't look like he is getting tired. Mina closes her fingers around the bottle in her jacket pocket. There's not much else she can do. 

“Jinyoung, catch!”

She lobs the bottle with all the strength in her arms but her shout might have been another warning Jinyoung didn't really need. 

Jinyoung glances her over his shoulder for long enough to see the airborne bottle and stumble. He throws his arms up to protect his head and that is all it takes for the trajectory to reverse. The bottle hits Wonyoung squarely between the eyes and Mina skids to a stop to watch her tip backwards. The fall looks like it happens in slow motion and Wonyoung fades out of sight with the breath of the wind. 

“Wonyoung?”

She doesn't answer, of course. Only the last sigh of the potion rolls outwards, the ripple of a tide dying in lilac, and Wonyoung is gone. Mina looks up. Jinyoung is gone too but that it remarkably a different sort of absence. 

Daehwi finally catches up and even when air is escaping him too easily he can see something is amiss. Or he can sense it, Mina supposes. 

Daehwi doesn't even ask the question and his eyes are fixed on the spot where Wonyoung ceased to be. There are only crystal shards and opalescent dregs and Mina doesn't know what to do. 

“Should we call Yujin?” Daehwi asks. It is the closest thing they have to something useful. Mina just hopes Jinyoung won't do anything to Ggyu while she is taking her time trying to fix this too. 

 

 

 

Mina decides that Hyeyeon might have been right. She has been taking this too lightly and Hyeyeon is right to be having kittens about this whole thing. But Mina promised, herself more than anyone else, and she needs to keep everyone else from knowing how far she will go. 

Mimi has been meaning to ask a question since they greeted each other and hearing her sigh so much is worse than meeting Hyeyeon. 

“What is it?” Mina asks as she contemplates the last of the whipped cream melting into her hot chocolate. She wishes she had been cheeky and asked for more but she wishes for a lot of things. Right now she wishes Mimi would stop trying to make her feel guilty as she sinks her teeth into her almond slice. 

Mimi pats away the pastry flaking at the corners of her lips and widens her eyes. “Is there something wrong?”

Two can play at that game. Mina spoons the last of the cream into her mouth but is just careless enough that her exaggerated movements leaves some at the corner of her mouth. She leans forward in her chair and grins. “You'd know better than anybody if something was wrong.”

“Like you avoiding everyone? You keep calling in sick at the bar and I don't think Hana is going to let you keep getting away with this.”

Mina pouts and rests her head in her hands. “I knew there was something. Isn't there anything else?”

Mimi sighs again and wipes at the cream at the edge of Mina's mouth with her thumb. She puts on a show of not having any patience for Mina's antics but she is still smiling when she reaches for a napkin. Things work too well for Mina sometimes. 

“Alright,” Mimi says gently. “Why are you avoiding the rest of the coven? I heard you are even using spells to avoid the oracle sect in case they tell Sejeong on you.”

Mina frowns. Maybe she just thinks things work as intended. “That last part is conjecture, you can't possibly know that.”

Mimi shrugs. “I don't need to know that. Sejeong knows that well enough on her own.”

“She doesn't need to know anything else and neither do you. But I saw Wonyoung die. Or I might have been involved in it. Anyway things are getting worse and I need to take responsibility.”

“Mina, please.” 

Mimi’s tone is warning but Mina isn't going to let it get any further. She tries a smile and leans closer in her seat and rests her hand on Mimi’s knee. She tucks Mimi’s hair behind her ear and whistles. 

Mimi’s eyes slip and she lets them close as though that is enough to close her ears to Mina’s quiet (and admittedly inconsistently tuneless) whistling. 

“I just want you to be safe.”

Mina lets her whistling die out. Mimi opens her eyes. 

“Promise you'll stay safe.”

“I will.”

Mina really does mean it but that doesn't mean she is going to let Mimi say anything further. And Mimi can't say anything as they finish their cakes and their drinks. They get through with Mimi only to say and ask about things that she doesn't care about half as much as she does about Mina carrying wards in her pockets to confuse scrying spells and any clairvoyant activities. 

Mina knows she shouldn't be hiding what she is doing from her friends but she knows that all they would love to do is tell her to stop and be careful. She is being careful and that's why she is going to visit someone she hopes knows things that nobody else does. 

Yoon Jisung has written half the books Mina has been forced to study as supplementary reading. She had assumed he would be living in more grandeur if he was getting royalties from books that magic students all over the country were forced to read. Even more than that she had assumed he could afford a lock for his front door even if he couldn't afford a gardener to trim back the hedges and vines trailing over the masonry of his house. 

Surely such an acclaimed witch wouldn't have a home that was so easy to get into. Because the door is ajar Mina just wants to check that everything is alright. It isn't advisable and even as she pushes the door wider she can hear Sejeong and Haebin being very responsible in her head and telling her to get as far away from this house as possible. Anything could have got past the protections in place and left the door so ominously open. But Mina steps through into the hallway. 

Nothing appears to be amiss but Mina hasn't been here before so this level of clutter (old magazines and misshapen ornaments lining the stairs and scarves slung over the banisters which trail onto a stack of books which Mina has avoided reading too many times) could be normal. Or it could simply be chance that had everything falling into almost neat piles. 

The wallpaper looks like it belongs in an elderly person's house but it lacks framed photos of grandchildren. Mina doesn't know whether that is good or bad. At least she doesn't have the beady eyes of children watching her creep through the hallway. There is a door at the end and there is a door a few steps away from Mina. Both of the doors are closed and even if she pretends to be brave Mina is too nervous to walk too much further. 

So she chooses the nearest door. She closes her hand around the faux crystalline door knob and steadies herself before turning the handle and pushing open the door. 

“You're okay?” Mina says. She isn't sure what is going on but a person who must be Yoon Jisung is sitting on a sofa and pretending to read a book. He raises a finger towards Mina and maintains the furrow in his brow as he stares at the thick book in his hand. And then he places a bookmark between the pages and continues his pretence by affecting a startled expression. 

“Oh. Who might you be?” Jisung asks. He rests his hands on the book in his lap but the action nudges his elbow into the large fluffy pillow which snuffles beside him. 

“My name is Kang Mina. I am-”

“The enchantress?”

“A witch.” The correction to the assumption is near reflexive at this point and even without speaking to the other coven witches in a while she knows it is necessary. Hana had warned her that Jisung was a witch who didn't trust those born to enchant or create illusions. The warning didn't explain why such a person is currently hiding right at Jisung's elbow. 

“I asked to be able to speak with you alone,” Mina says. She heard the impertinence in her tone but she doesn't like how the terms have differed. 

Jisung looks confused as he stands up and offers Mina a seat. 

“You are alone. Aren't you?” He squints at her suspiciously and looks even more surprised when Mina raises her arm to point at the alleged fluffy cushion vibrating with silent giggles. 

“I know you’re doing me a favour,” Mina says as politely as she can manage, but she can’t ignore the company. “Who is your friend?”

The friend, the pillow, apparently also the dog, darts off the sofa and towards Mina. A sneeze and the a very naked person is standing before her. 

Mina isn’t sure who is screaming more between her, the dog-pillow, and Jisung. The friend ducks past Mina and hides behind the door. 

“Daniel, please put some clothes on,” Jisung pleads. 

“I will!” Daniel whines. “Make her close her eyes.”

“Please close your eyes,” Jisung says. 

“They’re closed.” Mina’s eyes are closed but she unfortunately can’t forget the very naked person she just had to see for no reason. The naked person returns wearing clothes and Mina wonders why the clothes couldn’t have been part of the illusion in the first place. And she also wonders why this person is here at all. 

“This is Daniel,” Jisung says as Daniel returns to his position on the sofa looking much more like a human than a pillow. This definitely isn’t a private conversation but Hana had said that Jisung was a bit strange. Maybe he thinks he can be protected from enchantments by someone guilty of performing them.  

Mina sighs and supposes this is the best she will get. “There’s a guy that is causing some trouble lately and I would like some help. He is powerful and he killed someone.”

Mina isn’t telling the full truth here but she doesn’t want to take the blame for Wonyoung’s death. Mina isn’t sure of how many times it has happened before but this is the first time it has happened since Mina met her. 

Wonyoung, suddenly tiny with hair that barely skims her narrow shoulders, held Mina’s hand. “It happens to me all the time. It’s no big deal. Just don’t ever throw anything again.”

Mina could barely agree to the promise but Wonyoung quickly changed the subject to offer some of the sweets she pulled from her pocket. Most of the sweets weren’t even wrapped and were growing tacky in her palm but Mina accepted one anyway.

“I can’t believe you actually took one of those things,” Hyewon said, wrinkling her nose. She even cringed away even though she was sat across the room and pretending to read a book. Wonyoung’s house was a strange place, always filled with someone who doesn’t technically live there (though Wonyoung and Yunjin are barely living themselves) and Mina had expected that a private conversation was out of the question but she would have prefered not have her apology get sidetracked like that. 

Even now Mina is wondering how she could have apologised properly or, better yet, not killed Wonyoung in the first place. But Jisung doesn’t need to know that. He frowns and sits up straighter. Even if it isn’t strictly true it is enough to get his attention. But perhaps a non-literal shading of the truth might not help Mina’s case against being viewed suspiciously just because she was born to deceive.

“This person killed one of your friends?” 

“The friend of a friend, really,” Mina says. She isn’t sure why she says it but doing so doesn't diminish her guilt any. She still threw the very thing which was deflected back at them to take away the past seven years of Wonyoung’s life.

“What sort of help would you like?” Jisung asks. “Spells or wards? I don’t think I could stretch to helping with traps. You’d need a specialist for that.”

“I just need help trying to disarm him,” Mina says. “I was wondering if you’d heard of him before though. His name is Jinyoung and Daehwi said he tore apart a cursed grotesque like it was nothing.”

Even Daniel has it in himself to look concerned. “Aren’t grotesques made of stone? Like gargoyles?”

“That’s right,” Jisung agrees. “I’m afraid I haven’t heard of anyone like that before.”

“But you’ve written books. Lots of them!”

“I have, but that doesn’t mean-”

“I’ve had to read so many of your books! Can’t you repay me by at least knowing this?”

Jisung clears his throat and sends Daniel a glare from the corner of his eye but it doesn’t put a stop to the giggling beside him. 

“I am very sorry to have disappointed you like this. Is there any known affiliation with any beings or groups?”

Mina doesn’t know a thing but she can’t hide her disappointment that it appears to be the case for Jisung too. 

“Neither of you have any ideas at all? Please, Jisung, with all due respect, this person is causing trouble for the whole magical community. There’s no telling who will get hurt next! Hana’s Ggyu has been kidnapped too! Even your magician friend doesn’t know anything? Isn’t there anyone else who might know something?”

“Jihoon might,” Daniel says. He is definitely not helpful and is managing to smile as though Mina hadn’t mentioned someone dying.

“Jihoon?” 

“Jihoon,” Daniel nods happily.

“Who is Jihoon,” Mina asks.

“He’s my best friend,” Daniel says with a grin that shouldn’t be so charming. Of course Mina remembers what he probably is which explains the charm. Daniel remembers something too. “After Jisung, of course. Maybe on par with Sungwoon. Oh, but you’re all definitely after Jaehwan.”

“Jaehwan? I’m ranked after Kim Jaehwan? The rat catcher?”

Daniel pouts. “Don’t be mean. He doesn’t catch rats anyway. We’re not all like silly and mean stories. I bet Mina doesn’t like hearing things like that either!”

“I don’t,” Mina agrees, though she is interested to hear more about this supposed rat catcher. It must not be literal but the clues are easy enough to guess that whoever Jaehwan is he is probably an enchanter or a magician. For someone who is so suspicious of that sort of magic Jisung seems to know far too many people who were born with it. Not that she is hear to learn things like that. “Can you contact this Jihoon person who might know something?”

“Oh, yeah,” Daniel says perkily. “He’s just upstairs so I will grab him.”

“He’s upstairs?” Jisung asks, tone far too dangerous for Daniel to still be smiling the way he is. “After I watched him leave this morning? Did I imagine that? Did you… You charmed me?”

Daniel is visibly panicking and Mina feels bad for being here to watch him try to defuse the situation. He settles for a coquettish, “Don’t I charm you every day?”

“That’s unfortunately more true than I would like.”

“I love you,” Daniel says before he rushes out of the room for a second time, possibly to fetch Jihoon but very possibly to do something ridiculous.

Jisung huffs and folds his arms. Something is bothering him but he catches Mina’s eye and huffs again. “I bet you’re like that too.”

“Like what?”

“Annoying,” Jisung grumbles. “Impossible to hate.”

“This is you not hating me?” Mina asks. She would really hate to see Jisung’s reaction to her if he did hate Magicians or enchanters.

“I don’t hate you. I don’t know you. But I’m sorry if you think that.”

Jisung looks like he really is worried about offending Mina but she doesn’t mind. She has other business that matters more and Hana had warned her many times that Jisung doesn’t trust certain types of magic even if he had studied and written books about them. 

“It’s alright,” Mina says. “I could be dead, or torn apart by some mysterious demon.”

Jisung laughs but stops almost immediately. He frowns and leaps out of his seat to scurry over to the bookcase across the far end of the room. “Do you think he might be a demon?”

“I don’t know,” Mina says slowly. It was an off the cuff comment but she hadn’t thought this was what got an actual reaction out of him. “Don’t you research all sorts of magical beings? Don’t you retain that knowledge in your brain? Why do you need to look through the books you’ve written?”

Jisung looks half a leaf from pelting one of the thick books right at Mina’s head but he blinks stars out of his eyes and the book remains safely in his hands. “I have never researched beings themselves. I don’t really know that much about demons or the extent of their capabilities. Other researchers have done essays on the innate magic of different kinds of people.”

Mina watches Jisung pluck several books from his shelves. He runs his finger across the spine and hums as he considers whether he will find the information in any of the books. He dumps his pile on the seat beside Mina and makes himself comfortable on the sofa just in time for Daniel to burst into the room with a yapping bundle in his arms. 

“Can you make him shut up?” 

Jisung’s request doesn’t go down very well and the dog barks louder and scrambles out of Daniel’s grip so he must grapple with the bundle of energy. 

“Don’t be mean to Jihoon. He’s cute and he was hiding for a long time,” Daniel chuckles. 

“He should have been at home for a long time,” Jisung retorts. Then, “I know you’re trying to be cute this but I don’t see how Mina is supposed to communicate with Jihoon like this.”

Daniel giggles and tips the tiny dog out of his arms. Mina’s eyes feel heavy, as though she is on the verge of a sneeze but the moment passes and when the stuffy feeling abates there is a young man around her age standing fully clothed where the dog landed. 

“Why can’t you do that?” Mina asks. Daniel doesn’t reply and averts his gaze as though he can make the question disappear just like that. Jisung’s gaze is with Jihoon (apparently a person) as he shoves the books out of the way and plonks himself beside Mina. He stretches his arm over the back of the sofa and tilts his head just so and Mina almost feels a stirring in her gut at the fluttering of his eyelashes as he smiles invitingly at her. Almost. 

“I heard a beautiful girl wanted to talk to me.”

Mina gently holds Jihoon’s face with her hands and tilts his head to a more becoming angle. “Like this is better.”

Jihoon scoffs and swats Mina’s hands away. “Eww. Okay. What do you want?”

“Very charming,” Jisung mutters as he attempts to rearrange his books. 

“What do I need to be charming for? She's just like me and Daniel but I don't see you kicking her out of your house.”

“I was invited,” Mina gloats. 

“Hardly,” Jisung sighs. “She needs some help. She at least asked to come here unlike you.”

Jihoon huffs but he doesn’t pay any mind to Daniel pulling Jisung over to sit on the other smaller sofa with him. He gives Mina a once over and asks, “What sort of help do you want?”

“There’s someone causing trouble lately but nobody knows anything about him. Apparently you might.”

“Why would I know about troublesome people?” Jihoon asks.

“I don’t know. I don’t know you. They just told me to ask you.”

Jihoon sighs. “Alright. But don’t listen to them and act like you think I am a strange person. Tell me about this person.”

“I don't know how to describe him,” Mina says thoughtfully. She goes with the basics. “His name is Jinyoung and he's really skinny and he has a small head and he talks like this.” She uses the cracking wisps of her voice to make nonsense noises and it sounds about right. Even though Daniel is muffling his chucking in Jisung's shoulder, Jihoon agrees that it is a good impression.

“That's Bae Jinyoung! My friend Jinyoung! What do you want to know about him for?”

That seems way too easy. Mina frowns at Jihoon. “He kidnapped the head witch’s familiar from our coven and he has torn limbs from multiple undead people.”

“Oh. That’s bad,” Jihoon says.

It is bad. Lots of bad things have been happening lately and they are all apparently connected to this friend of Jihoon’s. Mina thinks she knows too much and hearing about Woojin going to imps to ask for a love potion might be one of the worst things. She dreads to think who Woojin wants to use it on but she doesn’t want to wait until someone dies because Yoojung has really convinced Woojin that any of the potions she sells do anything other than injure people. 

Mina has been hearing lots of things that she would rather not hear while she avoids the rest of the coven. Learning from the witches is nothing like the time she has been spending with the undead and the sprites and witches from a differing craft. Now she has even more things to worry about like Woojin on the verge of killing someone and Chaeyeon insisting that the other half of her soul is a wisp of fire in the air that follows her sometimes. Too many things are strange and Mina can’t get away from any of them no matter how hard she tries. 

A flutter of eyelashes and a question phrased just so is often the way to derail a topic of conversation but it is a lot harder to create illusions that will charm magical species and it is rare she can get anyone to shut up and let her concentrate on one thing at a time. Knowing this much means she realises it isn’t an accident that Jihoon decides that listing many of his other friends have no idea that he’s an enchanter is important. 

“Stop talking,” Mina says while Jihoon is saying things that make Daniel nod and hum in interest while Jisung is reading something from the inside of his eyelids. Jihoon frowns. 

“What?”

“Very cute that you’re pretending to be a normal human,” Mina says as boldly as she can. “Just tell me where I can find Bae Jinyoung. And also how upset would you be if I killed him?”

“Very upset!” 

 

There are an uncomfortable amount of frogs around. One frog would be an uncomfortable enough number but there are a lot more frogs than one and Mina isn’t fond of how humid and dim the room is. She assumes she is still indoors because she remembered there being much more house the last time she visited Yujin and Wonyoung and the air outside was brisk and fresh and nowhere near as swampy and damp as this frog kingdom. 

Mina shuffles her feet and wonders whether coming here was worth it. Composting leaves stick to her shoes and she is so preoccupied with stomping the residue off her feet that she barely manages to dodge the insect that makes a beeline for her face. 

If Mina is being honest she doesn't dodge the insect at all and it would be more truthful to admit that it is zipped away from her by the precision of a tongue whipping it into the mouth of a frog. It is both disgusting and startling so, like any normal person, Mina screams. The frog screams back at her. 

The door behind Mina bursts open and Yujin is barely able to voice her concern, but Mina understands well enough when she turns around to scream at Yujin directly. Yujin, for some terrible reason, doesn’t understand. She stands in the doorway between the interior of the house and this strange swampy room on the second floor, gaping like a fish who has only just understood what it means not to be amphibious. 

“What is happening?” Yujin finally asks. 

“I don’t know. She just started screaming!” The frog (or Minjoo now that she is standing in the middle of the room looking almost like she could be a perfectly ordinary human) says. 

“Nobody is hurt, are they?” Yujin asks. Perhaps it is because she has been alive for far longer than she looks but her words are too kind, laden with too much concern. Mina thinks perhaps everything in the world could be fine with someone as kind as Yujin. But then it is ruined when Minjoo pushes past Mina to hold Yujin’s hand. 

“All is well. I am sorry that we disturbed you like this. I will make you something delicious to eat later, alright?”

Yujin looks between Minjoo and Mina with trembling eyes and nods. She leaves, instantly colliding with Wonyoung who was creeping up behind her, and Minjoo closes the door behind her. She smiles at Mina, serenely as though any of this is ordinary. 

“Are you going to feed her bugs?”

“Pardon?”

“You said you would make her something delicious to eat,” Mina says. “Will you make something with bugs?”

“Of course not. That is simply absurd.”

No more absurd than any of this. Even being here to see Minjoo is absurd. Sprites are strange creatures and they are creatures Mina has been able to read about in books that she has been forced to study at the coven. There were cases of sprites playing tricks on magicians, some strange sense of ownership over transformative magic but it is mostly based of rumours long past. Sprites spring right from the roots of the trees and the beds of rivers and since the dawn of time have been able to make their form into whatever they pleased and they have just as much power of the world around them. 

Mina and the people like her, magicians and enchanters like Daniel and Jihoon alike, can only create illusions. Hint to people that the world could be a certain way and maybe have them believe it for a while. People like Minjoo can create real change. They make water fall from the sky and leaves sprout from the trees, and whatever else made this room on the second storey of a house look like the amphibian house at a zoo. 

“What brought you here to visit me?” Minjoo asks. Mina is beginning to wonder that herself as another insect buzzes its way too close to her face.

“I would like some help.” Minjoo looks interested and Mina hasn’t even approached the actual request. Mina takes a breath and tucks her hair behind her ears. She smiles and feels emboldened by Minjoo smiling back in response. “I need a trap. I would like something that can trick a magical being in ways that my charms can’t.”

“And what sort of trap would you like to create?”

“Something that can get the attention of a demon.”

“A demon?” Minjoo has stopped smiling. The smile falls right out of the air and it is a moment before Mina realises that the insects have stopped rustling and chirping and all the frogs nestled in the leaves have ceased their croaking. “What sort of… Mina, what do you mean by a demon?”

“I don’t think I am trying to trap a demon for sure, but he’s too powerful for my magic. He’s powerful but he can’t see. And I think maybe he’s afraid of all the things he can’t see.”

Somi knows a suspicious amount of information about Jinyoung but that is only because Daehwi has been incredibly unhelpful and Somi had relayed the things that she had been told by him. Jinyoung sounds even more unique and Mina can’t bear to think what sorts of havoc he’s on the cusp of creating.  

“He’s powerful but he cannot see?”

“That’s what I have heard,” Mina confirms. It is absurd that someone who can do so much (destructively or otherwise) cannot see the consequential effects of their actions but Mina saw for herself how Jinyoung reacted to tearing off Chungha’s arm. He hadn’t seen what he had done so he hadn’t seen what there was before his touch came into effect. “I heard he tore a grotesque apart as though it was nothing more than smoke. So maybe that would work.”

Minjoo frowns, “But if I give you smoke when you conjure it all the people who cannot see through the planes will be able to see it too.”

“Then he might think it is a powerful spirit. I can use it to chase him that way.”

“And you’re sure your own magic shan’t do?”

“I don’t think he’ll be able to see it. I won’t even get close enough to try.”

Minjoo hesitates but she presents Mina with a helicopter seed, a shade larger than the norm.

“Samara,” Minjoo explains. “As light as smoke so the wind will carry it just as easily. The spell to crack the seed is simple. Your will must be an ignition. I would suggest dropping it into the air and have the currents of the air blow it away from as many people as possible.”

It sounds easy enough but Mina has a different sort of magic. She can’t rely on being able to execute her plan with the ease Minjoo is assuming but it is the sort of assistance she was hoping for. But she gets another hint just as she is about to leave. 

“Chaeyeon is looking for you.”

“Oh,” Mina replies, cheery now that she has something to put into motion. “Is she in?”

“Not my Chaeyeon. Your Chaeyeon. She’s looking for you.”

“My…?” Mina takes too long to realise what this means. She leaves as quickly as she can and she hurriedly pulls her phone out of her pocket to reject the ill-timed calls from Sally as she calls swift goodbyes to whoever is in the rooms of the house that she passes. But it must already be too late because she runs out of the front door to the house and right into Chaeyeon. And Sejeong. 

“Mina!”

“You don’t need to shout, Sejeong, I am right in front of you.”

“I know. I was just worried you’d forgotten the sound of my voice seeing as you have been ignoring it for so long.”

Mina hasn’t been ignoring Sejeong’s voice. She has been avoiding it altogether. Her hands dip inside her pockets, only her fingertips don’t rustle the folded edges of the wards and talismans she had drawn onto paper to shade her from the clarity of oracles. Chaeyeon (not Minjoo’s Chaeyeon with the wisp of fire which is tethered to her heart but Mina’s Chaeyeon who belongs to a coven of her own where they possess the ability to see all things) nods. Of course she saw Mina losing the wards she had painstakingly etched onto paper after combining several talismans that confuse and befuddle. 

“It’s good to see you at last,” Mina tries.

“Don’t even bother,” Sejeong says curtly. Her eyes are screwed firmly shut so it is up to Chaeyeon to turn her to face the right way. “How dare you hide from the rest of the coven like this? Well, not all of us.”

“Who is to say I have been hiding from anyone?”

“I can say well enough!” Sejeong huffs. She flails her arms for a moment before Chaeyeon again pushes her in the right direction. With Sejeong’s hand around her arm it is impossible for Mina escape as she is transported back to the coven. 

 

 

In a word, Mina has been detained.

She is only allowed out of sight of the coven to go home and she gets picked up every morning by one of the other witches and they escort her home so they can bestow protective spells to prevent her from leaving again. She has even been banned from going to work at the bar and Mina wonders what sort of employee she is that they can spare her shifts instead of trusting her. It seems like they’re being responsible but Mina has reached the end of her patience for looking at the same walls day in and say out. It has been only three days but living three more days like this sounds like torture. 

“You shouldn’t have been hiding from the rest of the coven,” Hyeyeon whispers across the desk. 

“You’re being punished too and you weren’t even hiding,” Mina hisses as she lifts her gaze from the talisman design she has been working on to glare at Hyeyeon. Hyeyeon pouts at the retort but she can’t refute it. She had covered for Mina to an extent but making a few excuses here and there is hardly grounds for this sort of treatment. She must be getting just as bored of having her movements so closely watched.

“What are you going to do now?” Hyeyeon asks. “You’re not allowed to leave so you won’t be able to find Ggyu.” 

That’s very true but it doesn’t mean that Mina isn’t going to find a way of escaping to do what she set out to. But the answer comes sooner than she had anticipated. Sally comes down to the cellar and Mina quickly stuffs the paper talismans she had been drawing into her pockets before they could be seen. The artificial light is harsh against Sally's face and it makes her look tired, likes she has been worrying the whole time too. Seeing her is no relief against the ache of the pages of the books Mina and Hyeyeon have been instructed to study by Hana. But there is no point in ignoring her when she is bringing food down to them. 

“Are you learning anything?” Sally asks. 

“Of course,” Hyeyeon chirps. It’s a lie of course. Mina can do just as well as that. 

“I am learning but there are some things I am still wondering about.”

“What is it?” Sally asks. She pushes the tray closer to Mina and Hyeyeon like she is expecting the books to snap shut and the food to be snatched up quickly. If that is what she is expecting it explains the disappointment on her face. 

“You know a lot about administering magic to different beings, don’t you?” Mina asks. She leans in a little closer and catches the gaze that skitters hither and thither. A light touch of fingertips against Sally’s shoulder and a tilt of Mina’s head is enough to tip admiration down her shoulders. 

“I know some things. Mostly about training familiars. Just animals.”

“Sally,” Mina wheedles. “You’re so much more impressive than that.”

“Am I?” Sally casts her gaze over to Hyeyeon who is a good friend to have at times like this. Hyeyeon nods quickly. It might be the unassuming smile she is wearing that has Sally relax as she smiles at Mina. “Do you really think so?”

“Of course. And that’s why you’re the only one I can ask,” Mina reassures. “The books won’t explain it anywhere near as well as you.”

“What do you mean by that? Aren’t the books helpful?”

“Not at all,” Mina replies brightly. “They aren’t helpful at all. Books don’t know Ggyu and how well you trained our familiar.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“So what would you do to prevent a familiar from experiencing distress if it realises it is in the presence of a dangerous person?” Mina asks gently. She sees Hyeyeon frowning from the corner of her eye but she isn’t going to get mired down in thoughts about someone being confused when Sally’s eyes have softened to perfection. 

Sally licks her lips (and Mina knows that people often feel nerves at times like this even if their eyes and their breaths tell her that they’re becoming more at ease) and tucks her hair behind her ears. She holds out her hand, knuckles presented to Mina as she waits. She holds her hand out for several seconds and says, “I wait until the creature I am hoping to make a familiar looks calmer. Hopefully the dangerous person isn’t paying too much attention because it could take a while to ensure the creature trusts me.”

“Like this?” Mina asks as she dips her head closer to Sally’s hand and glances up at her.

Sally sighs. “Not necessarily. The creature might approach but the creature might not realise how dangerous the person they are with is. If the creature trusts the person they are with you will be looking to make eye contact.”

“Like this, then?” Mina asks as she straightens her back to meet Sally’s gaze more evenly. Sally’s eye’s flutter closed and open and it’s perfect. 

“For magic,” Sally blusters, “creatures will need a spell to communicate trust. A simple one. Your will should be honest and green. Healing and freshness.”

Mina nods. She raises her hands to cup Sally’s jaw and Sally flinches but Mina maintains eye contact and thinks of calming Sally. Sally stills and Mina thinks honestly, thinks of freshness and trust and whatever else that communicates what Mina needs to. 

“Thank you for bringing these snacks for Hyeyeon while she studies,” Mina says delicately. 

“It’s no trouble,” Sally says beatifically. Her blinks are slow and her face rests more heavily in Mina’s hands. It means she isn’t quite doing this correctly but Mina tries her hardest not to charm the rest of the coven so knowing just the right way to do it would make her feel too guilty. 

“Sally,” Mina says gently. “I have to go now. Is that alright?”

“Of course.”

This giggle froths out of Mina’s chest involuntarily but Sally smiles too. Hyeyeon laughs quietly too but she has always been too easy and Mina finds she still can't understand how one person can be enamoured so easily. If Mina is honest it worries her that people like her, like Jihoon and Daniel too, could spare Hyeyeon a glance and she'd do or think anything they ask of her. But there will be a way to sort that out.

Mina looks away from Sally for a moment, a lapse in the unconscious spell, and reaches for Hyeyeon's hand.

"You have to stay here, alright?" Mina says. "The coven will keep you safe for me while I sort things out for us."

"I'll stay right here."

"Good," Mina nods. She squeezes Hyeyeon's hand and smiles back at the complete trusting joy she sees there.

"Mina," Sally asks, "Are you leaving?"

Right. Of course. Mina smiles brightly at Sally and hold her hands between her own. "I am leaving. I will be back soon so you can't let anyone else worry about me."

"Everyone is already worried."

"Then you should try to stop them from worrying. A small deceit should be enough to ease their minds."

Sally's brow furrows for a moment but a shade later her countenance eases into something softer. "I will tell them you are working hard to revise."

"Thank you."

Sally leans closer to Mina and presses a kiss to her forehead. The simplest form of protection but Mina appreciates it more than Sally could realise. Mina offers the same to Hyeyeon and then to Sally before she rushes up the stairs. She summons the samara seed before she leaves the house and she runs.

It isn't that this is freedom, and it isn't that Mina feels at all trapped by her coven, but there are things she needs to do. She needs to see it through to the end and reclaim Ggyu. The coven might not understand but Mina won't hold that against them, just as she won't hold anything of that sort against Daehwi's keepers.

"What are you doing here?" Woojin asks warily.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Mina says cheerily. Her smile doesn't work immediately but Woojin opens the door a fraction wider.

"We're not not friends. I guess."

"Can't you be nicer than that? We've been through a lot."

"We have not!" Woojin replies hotly. He can pretend to be annoyed all he wants but he steps aside and lets Mina into the house. It is already too late. Mina makes a mental note to give a protection spell to Woojin when she leaves because he might be just as easy as Hyeyeon.

Woojin fetches himself and Mina glasses of fruit juice and he sits cross-legged beside her on the living room sofa and watches her expectantly. Mina sips her drink slowly but even someone like her feels self-conscious when being watched so closely.

She barely manages to keep the drink in her mouth as she laughs it off. "What?"

"I know you're not here to see me."

"You're right," Mina allows. It is inconvenient but she quite likes that she has tried charms on Woojin for far too long for him not to be guarded around her.

"Why are you here? And don't try any of your tricks on me."

"You're one to talk," Mina points out. "How is your love potion working out?"

"How do you know about that?"

"People have been talking. Well Yoojung told me directly."

"She said she wouldn't," Woojin grumbles. He really is too naive. Mina can't help herself. She presses a kiss to his forehead and hopes her intent is strong enough to save him from his own folly. "What was that for?"

"Don't rub it off. That's rude."

"Uh I think kissing someone by surprise is rude too."

"The fact that it was a surprise proves that I needed to do it," Mina laughs. Woojin just stares back gormlessly at her so she adds, "You need to pay more attention to your surroundings properly. What if that had been a spell to put you to sleep? Anything could have happened!"

"You can do that?" Woojin's tone begins horrified but after he speaks he seems to have gained a bad idea. "It's not like a 'death' sleep, right? You just make them nap for a very long time?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Daehwi's upstairs. If you put him to sleep now maybe he won't go through with whatever horrible escape plan he's cooking up."

"Why are you like this? First you ask imps for a death potion and now you're asking me to put Daehwi into a very long nap. There's something not right going on here."

"A death potion?"

"Imps lie. Yoojung can't give you a potion to make someone fall in love with you. It's poison. Please don't use it on anyone."

"Oh," Woojin says quietly. Mina doesn't want Woojin to be sad but she also doesn't want whatever misguided whims he had incapacitate someone innocent. He sips his juice and the lack of verbal response makes Mina worried.

"You haven't already given it to someone have you?"

"No, of course not!" Woojin needn't sound so vehement about denying a very real possibility but Mina doesn't even flinch at that.

"I had to make sure. If you want someone to fall in love with you I think you should do it normally."

"I don't want to talk about this with you. Someone like you wouldn't understand."

Mina knows exactly what Woojin means by that but she has to try hard to let this go. She isn't here to get mad like this. She sips her juice and smiles over the rim of her glass and pretends she isn't wondering why he thinks she doesn't have worries about loving someone who doesn't really like her. That's not important right now. "I hope you'll talk to someone about it then. There are other ways about this which are safer. They're better in every way, actually."

"Whatever."

"Yeah. Whatever." She sounds more terse than she means so she does what she does best. She laughs and tucks her hair behind her ear. "When you're alone you sound so grown up. Are you always like this when Donghyun and Youngmin aren't around?"

"They're not my parents," Woojin grumbles. "Donghyun is only one year older than me. He's not that grown up."

"Yeah but he has a job."

"I could have a job if I wanted. I just don't want Daehwi to get lonely."

Mina thumps Woojin's arm. "Go and beg Youngmin to give you a job. I'll take Daehwi off your hands and keep him company."

"What do you want with Daehwi?"

"We said we would visit Wonyoung and see how she's holding up. She died so she'll never catch the rest of us up in age."

"Isn't she like ninety? We're the ones who won't catch up with her age."

It is a fair point but Mina still feels guilty about how Wonyoung doesn't look anything like the kid everyone had known her to be. She is still cute and the things she says are just as funny and endearing but she has gone back to the child she was when she was saved by the fairies. Mina isn't even sure she's allowed to know something like that but Yena told her once under the duress of a charm that had gone wrong. Mina has a lot to feel guilty over but she needs to clear all of that out of her mind.

"Are you serious about taking Daehwi to visit Wonyoung?"

"Of course."

"Daehwi's still not really allowed out of the house alone. Someone needs to keep an eye on him." Woojin frowns for a moment and it almost seems like he is attempting a charm of his own the way he looks into Mina's eyes and rests his hand on her knee. "If you let him out of your sight I will make sure you are the person who ends up with the love potion Yoojung gave me."

"I promise."

 

The thing with Mina making a promise like that with Woojin (clasped fingers together and a kiss on the back of each of their hands and a terribly immature clause from Woojin that breaking the promise will leave them both with broken fingers) is that she isn't even sure that she'll be able to properly go through with her plan to rescue Ggyu.

"You're definitely going to end up with broken fingers," Daehwi says when he looks up from texting Jinyoung to ask him to meet up. Jihoon wasn't forthcoming with any useful information after being scared that Mina really would kill him so Mina needs to rely on Daehwi for this. They're walking down the street and Mina hasn't taken her eyes off Daehwi once but she isn't fond of how little faith her charge has in her abilities to follow through on the promise. Mina hadn't even mentioned Woojin's addition to the promise so there's a moment when she wonders why Daehwi's eyes are shining with reproach.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Woojin are terrible at making promises. No that's not right. You're terrible at keeping them, you're just stupid when it comes to making them. I don't see how adding consequences like that is helpful to anyone. Also last time you both did this I had to become Woojin's scribe and I ended up doing all of his homework as well as my own."

"Sorry," Mina says.

"I know you don't mean that. But I don't mind. You already owe me for constantly making me call Jinyoung out to meet," Daehwi sighs. "He said yes, for some awful reason."

That's good. Mina will find a way to pay Daehwi back for whatever it is that he has collated into a debt. As soon as she finds Ggyu and returns the familiar to the coven she will do anything Daehwi asks of her. Or perhaps Mina's repayment has already started because Daehwi pouts about being kidnapped from his home without having any money and how he can't make Jinyoung pay seeing as they're practically strangers.

Mina begrudgingly passes Daehwi some money along with a paper talisman. She made sure that she would have spares to ensure the oracles wouldn't be able to find her again so easily. Anyone who had the foggiest idea what Mina was doing would eventually work out that she needs Daehwi around too so she makes sure he's camouflaged from the nebulae of time and soul magic. He looks at the talisman with interest and then closes his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Kiss me. You should give me that protection too."

Mina hesitates. If Jinyoung even poses a threat to Daehwi she should find a way to do this without involving him. "What is it that you think you need protecting from?"

"Anything could happen," Daehwi says, cracking open an eye. "Jinyoung says spirits have chased after him to eat his soul before."

"To eat his soul?" Mina doesn't think she can protect against something like that but she channels everything she has into the protection she presses against Daehwi's forehead. She sweeps his hair over his forehead and wonders whether there is anything she can do to make it adhere more strongly.

Worried, Mina takes the drink she buys for herself to a table not too far from Daehwi's seat at the window. She can't take her eyes off him but the promise feels twice as heavy with the knowledge that she has asked him to meet with the type of person who attracts spirits that devour souls. Daehwi doesn't look concerned by any of this as he merrily taps at his phone and sips his smoothie in wait for Jinyoung.

According to the clock on Mina's phone it doesn't take too long for Jinyoung to arrive but she is sure she has aged all the years between Wonyoung's birth and her own whilst waiting for her target. He smiles as soon as he sees Daehwi through the window and he rushes inside to sit opposite him and as him how he is. They talk for a while about nothing at all and Mina feels impatient so she leaves to set up her distraction.

Trying her best to keep Daehwi in sight, Mina walks a way along the street and withdraws the samara from her pocket. She holds it on her palm and lets a current in the air flirt with flight. The seed flutters, spinning erratically in the wind even as its swooping path above people's heads has it floating in reverse. She tries to remember just how Minjoo described the ignition to release the smoke from the seed. And then Mina's whole hand aches from the crack that makes her hand limp.

Mina cradles her hand as best she can but even holding it gently sends pulses of stabbing sharpness into her chest. But she can't get stuck on the pain like this. The pain isn't just there to blind her to everything else. Pain exists as a warning to stop doing the thing that is causing it. Mina's not looking at Daehwi.

Her phone vibrates in her pocket and it is obviously Woojin calling to find out why he's suffering in the same way that she is. He can't be satisfied with finding out the promise has been broken this way but it is a punishment for Mina too. She holds her hand against her chest as best she can as she returns to the cafe.

And through the window Mina can see Daehwi is still sitting and chatting with Jinyoung as though there's nothing to worry about. If there's nothing to worry about there is no reason to continue ignoring Woojin's calls.

"My hand is broken!" Woojin yells in lieu of a more typical greeting.

"Mine is too," Mina points out.

"Where are you? Where is Daehwi? I'm on my way to wherever you are."

"Calm down," Mina says. Daehwi is even laughing with Jinyoung. Everything is fine. "Why did you make the promise so literal? I turned away from Daehwi for a second and now you've done this to both of us."

"Hold on I have an app to find Hwi," Woojin mutters. "I should have known I couldn't trust you."

"He's fine," Mina growls. "He's just sitting here and talking to..."

She shouldn't finish that sentence but she already knows she doesn't need to.

"Why did you stop talking? Who is he talking to?" Woojin asks. "Oh my gosh it is going to take me twenty three minutes to get there. You're not allowed to take Daehwi anywhere again. Especially not if he's with that weird guy who breaks people."

"I really don't think you have a leg to stand on seeing as you just broke both of our hands."

"No, Mina, you did that! And I am going to make sure--"

"Woojin," Mina says weakly. "I have to go now."

Woojin is yelling something or other when Mina hangs up. She can deal with whatever Woojin thinks he can do later. For now there are far more people outside yelling. If Mina lived a different life, if she hadn't been born to enchant and charm, she isn't sure that the terror gripping her chest would be any more than what she is feeling now.

The smoke that Mina assumes came from inside the samara seed Minjoo gave her is nothing like smoke she has ever seen before. The smoke spans the width of the pavement and is screaming as loud as a furnace with each increment of limacine crawling bringing it closer to Mina.

Mina's hand is already broken but she glances towards Daehwi anyway and he locks eyes with her through the glass. She's already disappointed in herself without seeing Daehwi turning an expression as heavy as that onto her.

The smoke languishes and screams even louder. The people on the street that had gathered with interest to take photos and videos scatter promptly. Smart. Mina would love to do the same but she caused this and leaving the world to clean up after her might border on unethical.

The only saving grace Mina has is the choking fat slug of dense carbon air is slow. It writhes in stagnant undulations and it gives Mina time to watch it and try to detect a weakness. Unfortunately her brain can only conclude that its weakness is being slow and it would be easy to keep running from such a thing. But she can't run. She hopes it is a sense of duty that has adhered her feet to the ground but it isn't likely.

One tremendous thrash flops the smoke closer to Mina. The paving slabs crack bluntly, a horrifically cartoonish fissure draws its way to the toe of Mina's shoes. Her legs tremble. This isn't something she could ever charm her way out of.

She reaches for her pockets for any wards or anything else useful to aid her. But she isn't as prepared for anything as she would like to be. But there is a chip of concrete within kicking distance. So Mina kicks it towards the smoke and watches it blister to smithereens in an expansive belch. She should have expected that.

And belatedly, Mina remembers she is a witch. She thinks this should have occurred to her long before she let the moment grip her. There must be a way out of this.

Mina clenches her fists, suppresses a sob at the attempt to move her broken hand, and purposefully recites the white rage of the wind. And she releases her hands and concentrates the blast of air to the centre of the smoke.

It gutters in the wind, wails much louder than before as holes form in the dense wall of charred air. Mina keeps blowing as the smoke parts and spreads against the cafe wall and into the road. She drops the direction of the air and waits as the smoke squirms listlessly in an attempt to reform. She wouldn't be able to keep doing the same thing if it would eventually reconstitute itself eventually anyway.

"Mina!"

She turns to the call of her name to see Daehwi dragging Jinyoung along behind him. The plan has sort of worked in a round about way but upon seeing Mina Jinyoung puts up more effort to resist. Nice to know that someone finds her more repulsive than the choking mass of smoke behind her.

"What is she doing here?"

"She's my friend," Daehwi says unconvincingly.

"She's not my friend. She can deal with this herself." Jinyoungs voice cracks as he waves his arms around and Mina supposes that had this worked it would have been a good plan for someone like him.

"How would you feel if some horrible monster was around and we made you deal with it alone?" Daehwi implores. Mina tries not to think too hard about how that had sort of been her plan.

"Probably the same as you when you were being chased by that horrible spirit from before," Jinyoung retorts.

"And you didn't let me deal with it alone. Mina's no different to me."

"I don't mind if he doesn't want to help," Mina points out.

"See. She doesn't want my help."

"Yeah, just give me back Ggyu and you can be on your way," Mina says blithely. She glances over her shoulder to make sure she still has time. She does and the smoke is still remembering how to fit itself together in tufts and fluffs.

"Ggyu?"

"My coven's familiar," Mina says. "You had it the day you ripped off Chungha's arm and I want you to return our dear friend."

Jinyoung looks confused but Ggyu very helpfully pops onto Jinyoung's shoulder. But the reunion Mina wants isn't possible when Ggyu quivers and sniffles and sinks away.

"Ggyu? Did... Did Ggyu go inside your body?"

"You mean foxy?" Jinyoung asks. "Yeah."

"Foxy?" Mina can barely contain the myriad of emotions that are threatening to burst forth from her mouth. "That's the worst name I have ever heard in my life. You don't deserve Ggyu! What you did is bordering on animal cruel--"

Pointing angrily at Jinyoung proves to be a mistake considering Mina's hand is definitely still broken.

"Mina," Daehwi gasps. But then he shrugs and shakes his head. "I told you this would happen."

"You don't get to tell me that," Mina says faintly. "A promise is a promise. Whatever. I just want Ggyu back. And for you to stay out of trouble."

"Don't you think you've missed the mark on keeping Hwi out of trouble?" Woojin asks. This isn't really what Mina needs. There's no way twenty three minutes have elapsed but Woojin possibly manipulating time isn't the most improbable matter at hand. Speaking of which- "This is for being a bad friend."

For some inexplicable reason Woojin smacks his (broken) hand against Mina's (also broken) hand. Their pained exclamations fade into murmurs under the scream from the smoke.

"Oh yeah," Woojin gasps through the pain, "what is that thing?"

Mina doesn't have a clue about that either but even explaining something like that to Woojin wouldn't be helpful. There isn't anything that he could do to get rid of the huge mass. But even stranger than that is what comes out of Daehwi's mouth.

"It's another curse. It must have followed me."

"Daehwi," Woojin growls threateningly.

"Are you serious?" Jinyoung asks. He doesn't sound particularly convinced but he does look like he is considering doing something about the smoke. Mina worries about what sort of person Daehwi is to be able to tell bald-faced lies like this. Daehwi nods solemnly and Jinyoung sighs and actually squares up to the smoke.

"Before that," Mina says quickly, "I'm a witch. I'll be able to help if you give me Ggyu."

"It's sort of inside me though. I don't know how to get it out. Or how it got there in the first place."

"You what?" Woojin's befuddlement isn't novel but Mina being just as baffled as him is.

"Then I need to exorcise it out of you."

"Is that painful?" Jinyoung asks. He finches away from a belching contortion from the smoke but it is hard to say what he looks more afraid of. Mina thinks about her broken hand and she knows that to get her own way she needs to lie about this.

"It's not painful."

Regardless of Mina's lie about painlessness she isn't as good at exorcisms as she would like to be in this situation. She needs something strong enough to sever the connection between Jinyoung and Ggyu but nothing so strong that Ggyu will end up vanquished. But perhaps performing spells with a non-witch will suffice.

"Woojin, give me your hand."

"I know it wasn't really cool of me to hit your hand but that hurt me too. Actually the whole breaking this is on me. I am taking responsibility. What I'm saying is, please don't hurt me."

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Woojin doesn't look like he believes it but Daehwi nudges his arm and says, "Just do it."

Woojin presents Mina his unbroken hand with a tiny plea to leave the appendage intact. Mina has no plans to break anything and she holds Woojin's hand firmly. Surprisingly he is good at following instructions and quickly memorises the incantation as Mina draws their hands apart and the web forms between them to scoop Ggyu right out of Jinyoung's body.

The thing is, even if Woojin's brow is furrowed in concentration and he was so good at following what he was meant to do he looks incredibly distressed at Jinyoung grunting in pain. And in his distress Woojin snaps the web and Mina ends up gouging too much out of Jinyoung. He sinks to the ground slowly and whimpers at the aftershock of the smoke convulsing against the ground.

"What did you do?" Daehwi asks. He can act as outraged as he would like but Ggyu has always been the priority here. For Mina at least. She doesn't have time to tend to Jinyoung and help bring him to when the smoke is thickening, crawling densely along the ground in abhorrent agitations.

Mina holds Ggyu tightly and holds out her other hand with the hint of flowers and fruit and the ocean and everything else that Mina remembers brought Ggyu to the coven. She doesn't mind the pain as Ggyu butts its head against Mina's fractured fingers. Each brush of contact which has her belly roiling from the pain strengthens the spell she casts.

Ggyu glows like the orange dusk and Mina sets the fox on the ground. She takes a step closer to the smoke and her shoes singe in the dragging tide of the smoke's heaving exhales. But the solution might be far easier than she imagined.

The air gradually cools as Mina closes her fists and compresses the air. It is even harder to breathe than before and Mina supposes this is a fair enough compromise if it makes it harder for the smoke to shriek. Her lungs feel tight but she doesn't let something like that loosen the grip of her hands as she watches the smoke get denser and sink more heavily against the ground. The pavement cracks and splinters with each second that Mina cools and compresses the smoke. She needs to be patient. She waits until she can no longer hear the guttering rattle of the smoke.

"Ggyu," Mina says. "Be brave."

And Ggyu is brave. The fox familiar dashes right at the compressed smoke, fur igniting and a sheen of steel calcifying over its skull. And the smoke explodes. Frozen shards of the smoke fly away from the point of impact, many of them sizzling into nothing due to Ggyu's flames before getting too far, though a shower of pebble-sized fragments fly towards Mina.

She thinks quickly enough to begin a small shield spell but she doesn't finish it before the scattering of smoke reaches her. And not a moment after the first scratch from the shrapnel slices Mina's cheek a blast of energy obliterates all remnants of the smoke. Mina stumbles, uncertain of how everything with matter, every molecule of air and ground, shifted enough to push back against the frozen pieces of the smoke.

She just about manages to right herself in time to snatch the furling heat in her pocket and cast it out with her broken hand. She blinks away her tears as she crouches down, not sure what was folded away in her pocket to begin an incineration, and realises it is the talisman she had made to hide from the oracles. Ggyu sniffs at it primly before coming to rest its head on Mina's knee.

"Ow!"

"What happened to his trousers?"

Mina looks over her shoulder to see the talisman she gave to Daehwi smouldering on the ground. And then she notices a rather largeysinged hole where Jinyoung's trouser pocket used to be.

 

Mina's hand hurts. She doesn't understand how it could ache more now than when she broke it but she doubts Woojin has access to Mimi's potions. It was kind of cool that Mimi had brewed a potion for Mina to dip her hand in. It formed a shimmering exoskeleton over her hand and even if her hand is delicate it blunts the pain when she forgets to use her hand delicately.

She wonders how much shock absorption the exoskeleton provides. Probably not enough that Mina wouldn't feel her hand break all over again if she slaps Yena like she wants to when she visits with Chaewon and Minjoo.

"I never thought I'd be privy to a coven as renowned as yours," Yena whistles.

"How can one be privy to something renowned?" Minjoo asks. She looks like she is genuinely interested in the answer but Yena waves off any need to respond by pulling her aside into a hug. Already Mina is on guard. She isn't sure why Hana decided to invite members of the fae into the coven house. Fairies are perhaps even more difficult to handle than imps and Yoojung was banned from coming over a while ago.

Ggyu follows Hana around as usual as she brings drinks to the guests in the living room but Mina can't help but wonder whether Soyee's assessment was true.

"That's not Ggyu," Soyee had said flippantly. When pressed for further explanation she added, "Ggyu is the fox we knew but the edges aren't smooth anymore. There is another soul that was attached to this one."

Mina knew that much and admitted that the attempted exorcism didn't go as planned. Knowing that there were consequences, Mina couldn't help but watch the fox and try to detect any unusual behaviour. If Ggyu is linked to Jinyoung's soul she doubts the fox has gained any endearing traits.

"Thank you for coming," Hana says to the guests. They likely didn't take that much convincing judging by Yena's reaction.

"It's no trouble at all."

"Mina would like to apologise to you," Hana says. Mina would not like to apologise to anyone but that probably doesn't matter. She bites back her retorts and smiles.

"I am so sorry that the seed you gave me was malevolent."

Minjoo frowns. "Was it not smoke as you wished?"

"It was smoke," Mina confirms. "But it was also a horrible monster that did actual damage."

Mina counts herself lucky that she could charm her way out of the blame for the shattered window but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel bad about the fact that the window needed replacing. Some part of the blame lies with the girls in front of her even from an objective sense. 

"Ooh," Yena says as she nods to Minjoo and Chaewon. "That sounds scary."

“I assure you that the seed I gave to you was nothing more than dead flames.”

“Then how could it have become such a strange beast? I can’t be certain that it meant to attack but there would have been no possibility for friendly contact.”

Minjoo nods, “Mindlessness excludes the possibility for amiable contact. Though I hadn’t imagined it would in any way be active. Perhaps it didn’t mix well because of the magic you expel.”

“What do you mean?” Hana asks. Mina is mostly surprised that she hasn’t first made an attempt to tell Mina off for not knowing how to apologise but when Mina gives her a hopeful look she shakes her head and pretends that she could ever be annoyed with her. Knowing that much makes Mina happier to listen to the confusing things Minjoo is saying. 

“You didn’t use the seed immediately did you, Mina? Had I given the seed to Yena, or even to Chaewon who was born of our magic and yours, I believe no such interference would have occured. Largely different classes of magic are incompatible so I would never adequately learn witchcraft just as you cannot access the abilities of the fae, however the magic we all emit can affect each other’s magic. For example, it is fine for me to have made a home with Yujin and Wonyoung as they are humans who live because of the fae. However Eunbi must carry wards with her to temper her magic so she doesn’t affect the house or the girls themselves. I believe no such measures were taken with the seed.”

Mina blinks and looks to Hana for help. Chaewon giggles from the sofa and she sounds so much like what childhood Mina imagined beautiful fairy princesses would sound like that she can’t help but smile at the sound. 

Chaewon leans forward in her seat and says, “You accidentally made a monster. But there are some monsters who make themselves.”

Perhaps Chaewon’s words are meant to be innocuous but they sound far more sinister than Mina would like. Mina is just hoping that Chaewon is being dramatic and strange for the sake of it but before she leaves, hand-in-hand with Yena and Minjoo, she says goodbye to the monster in Hana’s house. 

 

With Ggyu it is easy for Mina to find Jinyoung without calling on Daehwi. He doesn’t need to be around for the conversation that Mina wants to have with him. 

Mina takes one of Haebin’s crystals and scries for Jinyoung. She isn’t as good as Haebin but she can follow him if she uses the map app on her phone and suspends the crystal above it. It is more fiddly than she had hoped but she has seen Haebin begin from a distance and zoom in towards the drag of the crystal. There are a few false starts when Ggyu paws at Mina’s phone screen when she’s in the park and when she’s on the bus but she eventually finds him. Unfortunately for Mina he isn’t alone. 

The girl walking beside Jinyoung is much shorter than him and has long hair that waves to a point in the middle of her back. She looks similar to an imp Mina knows but after a double-take she is certain it isn’t who she thinks it is.

Because Mina is sure that Jinyoung is not with the person she momentarily thought he was with she follows him. She can’t talk to him about certain subjects in the presence of someone who isn’t already entrenched in magic. Mina recalls Jihoon pretending to be an ordinary human. Thinking about it, even Jinyoung doesn’t seem like someone who knows much about magic. But Mina specifically needs to talk to him about this so she follows him and tells Ggyu to be quiet. 

Jinyoung and the girl reach a street corner and part ways. Jinyoung stays still and neither he nor the girl attempt to wave to each other. 

Mina wonders whether taking the same path enough times with the same person would make her give up on hugs and waves and fleeting kisses for protection. She can’t imagine that happening to herself, though she hadn’t imagined anything like Jinyoung slowly turning in place to look directly at Mina. 

“Oh. Hi!” She greets with a bright smile. She probably doesn’t look very much like she is expecting to have to talk to Jinyoung. “It’s nice to see you, Jinyoung.”

“If you’re going to throw something at me or try to take some more of my soul I am not interested. Also I found a weird book in a library ages ago and I am pretty sure I could send you to the shadow realm if I wanted to.”

“The shadow realm?” Mina asks. “Like… Yu-Gi-Oh?”

“Whatever. Maybe!” Jinyoung yells. He’s holding up a piece of paper with an upside down triangle on it and Mina wonders what sort of book it was that Jinyoung found. 

“I just want to talk,” Mina says. She spreads her hands in front of her, mostly to show Jinyoung that she means no harm, but he flinches. After a moment though he agrees to talk to her. 

They end up sitting in Jinyoung’s back garden and Mina tries not to think too hard about the fact she is sitting on a moss-covered plastic slide and she is conjuring more of the ache in her broken hand by trying to stay upright. Ggyu sits on Jinyoung’s lap on the edge of the round trampoline. He smiles down at the fox familiar and Mina openly cringes when she hears him call it “Foxy.”

“I am sorry about the other day. When Woojin and I slipped and took a part of you.”

“You mean my soul?” Jinyoung asks pointedly. Mina laughs nervously. 

“Yeah. Your soul I guess.” She clears her throat and tries not to be so heavy-handed with this. “Daehwi mentioned something about spirits chasing you in the past to take your soul. I’m sorry that it had to happen this way.”

“You’re not the first,” Jinyoung shrugs. “A spirit has been successful before you. At least they did it on purpose I suppose.” Jinyoung holds Ggyu up and squints like he is trying to see the parts of his soul that were sliced away from him. 

“I will try to help you get your soul from Ggyu. Well not really me but the other witches of the coven will be able to do something for you,” Mina offers. 

“Thanks?”

“I guess until then you can have visits and stuff, if you want,” Mina suggests. Jinyoung looks like he is poised right in the maw of a trap so Mina adds, “It’s nothing weird. Nothing will happen to you. I know I might have given the wrong impression by threatening to kill you and trying to lure you into traps with fake spirits and stuff.”

“Excuse me?”

Mina doesn't really want to elaborate. It wasn’t the wrong at the idea at the time but it isn’t helpful now for Jinyoung to think that his life is still in danger. She doesn’t make an attempt to elaborate she smiles and provides her prettiest please to make the hesitation ease out of Jinyoung’s face. 

He nods. 

“Alright. I guess that would be nice.”

Mina doesn’t totally agree but it’s the least she can do to smile and nod along with him.  

 

 


End file.
